3930. Wombat

Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately 1 metre (39 in) in length with a short, stubby tail. They are adaptable in their habitat tolerances, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as an isolated patch of about 300 ha in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland.

The name wombat comes from the now nearly extinct Darug language spoken by the Aboriginal Darug people who originally inhabited the Sydney area. It was first recorded in January 1798 when John Price and James Wilson, a white man who had adopted Aboriginal ways, visited the area of what is now Bargo, New South Wales. Price wrote: "We saw several sorts of dung of different animals, one of which Wilson called a Whom-batt, which is an animal about 20 inches high, with short legs and a thick body with a large head, round ears, and very small eyes; is very fat, and has much the appearance of a badger." Wombats were often called badgers by early settlers because of their size and habit. Because of this, localities such as Badger Creek, Victoria and Badger Corner, Tasmania were named after the wombat. The spelling went through many variants over the years including "wambat", "whombat", "womat", "wombach" and "womback", possibly reflecting dialectal differences in the Darug language.

This particular wombat toy was made by Safari Ltd.

Infused with a new leadership in 2004, Safari Ltd.® has established a new level of excellence in replica design without forgetting our fundamental mission of educating children.

Safari Ltd.® is a leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of authentic replica collectibles.
We offer the largest variety of sizes and themes in the marketplace.
Our realistic replicas are carefully sculpted by experts. Each one of our USA based sculptors thoroughly researches the anatomy of the animal to ensure accuracy of detail.


An excellent example of this has been the close collaboration since 1986 between the paleontologists of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the sculptors. Out of this alliance, Safari Ltd.® licensed and developed the Carnegie dinosaur collection which became the most accurate scale model toy dinosaurs in the world.

We also have licensed and produced an authentic, scaled sea life replica collection for the Monterey Bay Aquarium of Monterey Bay, California.

In 1980, Safari Ltd.® began as an educational toy company out of the founders’ apartment, Bernard and Rosemarie Rubel. Today, nearly 3 generations later, we continue this commitment of educating children about the earth and its inhabitants. One way in which we accomplish this is by providing educational information in 5 languages in English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.